Less than two years after becoming some of China’s newest crude oil importers, around 20 independent plants in the eastern industrial heartland of Shandong Province plan to form a joint venture to coordinate their production, marketing, crude oil imports and investments. The new group of “teapot” refiners aims to pool funds and resources to produce fuels and chemicals more efficiently as they battle stiff competition in an increasingly saturated market and under tightened environmental and tax scrutiny.